Matthew 12:9-13
He left that place and entered their synagogue; a man was there with a withered hand, and they asked him, “Is it lawful to cure on the Sabbath?” so that they might accuse him. He said to them, “Suppose one of you has only one sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath; will you not lay hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a human being than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and it was restored, as sound as the other.
This scene is in part a repetition and affirmation of the earlier one. But it is also something more.
First, the affirmation: As we noted earlier, Sabbath law enforces a rest that all too often was denied by others in the ancient world (masters, oppressors, and more) and, ironically, that we all too often deny ourselves today. But the purpose of the Sabbath was always to help and to heal and to restore. Which is why some religious authorities, by their zeal to keep the letter of the law unintentionally violate the spirit of the law.
But this scene is also extension and explanation of the earlier one: What does it mean to be the “Lord of the Sabbath”? It means to be and to do and accomplish what the Sabbath intended – the restoration of God’s people.
Did you ever notice that, at heart, the varied stories of Jesus primarily focus on these actions to heal and restore and feed and make well? We often call these things “miracles” because they seem to suspend the natural order. But I don’t think Matthew and his compatriots record them in order to convince us of Jesus’ divine nature or to stun us into belief. Rather, I think they share these stories in order to reveal the very heart and mission of Jesus: to ally himself with God’s intention that all people enjoy the fullness and abundance of life God intended.
Again and again, Jesus takes the side of the people he encounters – people who are most often vulnerable and in great need – and stands with them against anything that would rob them of the abundant life for which God created them. And so demons are cast out and illness healed and hungry people fed and even the dead raised to life not to create awe for the supernatural power Jesus possesses but rather to create awe at the limitless compassion of the God whose presence Jesus bears as Emmanuel, God with us.
Prayer: Dear God, surprise us again and again with the manifold evidence of your love for us that we may be transformed to share that love with others through acts of compassion and healing. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Post image: “The Healing of The Man with the Withered Hand” – Hitda-Codex Fol. 114 (ca. 1000-1020) (detail).
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